Food & Recipes

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love breakfast. I love breakfast on busy weekday mornings and refuse to understand people who skip breakfast. Maybe that’s because I’ve always had breakfast in the mornings. When I was a kid my mum made a big pot of oatmeal every single morning, and no one was allowed to leave the table before finishing the whole big bowl.

But more than I love busy weekday breakfast, I love slow weekend morning breakfasts. I’m very lucky to have people in my life who share this love with me. Back in Helsinki regular breakfast meetings with my friends used to be a normal thing. Now looking back, I’m kind of missing the student life when it was possible to enjoy a Sunday morning any day of the week. Now when I’m living with my boyfriend the breakfasts are very often quite un-Instagrammable hash browns and eggs on toast. But man, I just love hash browns and the combination of an avocado and an egg.

Because I’m a master of yummy, and very Instagrammable breakfasts, I’ve started my little hobby again. A week ago I made very delicious sweet quinoa pancakes. They are packed with protein and good carbs, and they were so good and fluffy – scroll down to find the recipe! Besides pancakes and avocado toasts, I love poached eggs with inappropriate amount of hollandaise sauce on toast. And someday I will absolutely nail poached eggs.

To make weekends and breakfast moments a bit more luxurious, sometimes it is nice to have someone else prepare that Instagrammable breakfast for you. Luckily, Sydney is full of amazing cafes, and there are new ones popping up every week. But must say that after three visit to Celsius Coffee Co in Kirribilli, it’s still my number one.

This Sweet Potato Thai Curry Soup is one of my favourite dishes at the moment! I’d want to tell you it’s 100% vegan, but there’s 1 tablespoon of fish sauce in it. My brother and his girlfriend made this for the first time when I was in Salzburg, and it was so good I wanted to give it a try myself too.

It’s spicy, full of flavour, healthy and super easy and quick to make! And because it’s a soup, it’s not too heavy but still very filling. So, here’s how you can make the best Sweet Potato Thai Curry Soup!

Instructions (30 mins)

Mince the garlic and roughly chop/grate the ginger. Peel and dice the sweet potato in cubes. Wash the bok choy, chop it and separate the stalks from green ends. Slice red onion, roughly chop the cilantro and cut lime into wedges.

Add the oil, garlic, ginger and curry paste to a large stock pot and sauce for 2 minutes.

Add the sweet potato, bok choy stalks and the vegetable broth to the pot. Bring to boil, and then reduce heat and let simmer for 7-10 minutes (until sweet potatoes are tender).

While the soup is simmering, bring a pot of water to boil and add vermicelli noodles to the pot. Let boil for 2-3 minutes. Drain the noodles and set aside.

When the sweet potatoes are tender, add the coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar to the soup. Stir and adjust the taste if needed with fish sauce and/or sugar. Then add bok choy green to the soup.

Divide noodles to four bowls, add soup and vegetable on the noodles and finally top with red onion, cilantro, a wedge of lime and some sriracha.

Are you same as me and have a love-hate relationship with cooking? You love to cook and try new recipes, but then again they are the last things you want to do when you come home after a long day. Especially if you’re cooking just for yourself and wouldn’t really want to bother. And what you then go for, are the same dishes every week.

I think coming up with new ideas can be even more challenging if your a vegetarian. At least I’ve had periods, when I’ve felt like I’m just eating the same stuff every day. Theoretically I would have been willing to try new things, but then in practice I just couldn’t be less bothered.

Of course cooking always takes time but it’s just a reality. And when we’re super busy, finding new recipes isn’t the priority. Especially because trying new things can be a challenge already itself. Not to mention how our wallets might not like it.

Anyway, at the moment I’m so bored with all my everyday go-to dishes that my goal is to cook something new every week. Being fed up isn’t the only reason, though. I have found so many delicious looking and sounding recipes lately and really can’t wait to try them all. And because I find my recipe sources very inspiring, I wanted to share them with you!

Kitchen Stories

Kitchen Stories makes cooking very easy with step-by-step instructions, photos and videos. I tried their eggplant lasagna last week and it’s probably one of my favorite dishes at the moment! So easy to make and it serves 8. My brother, for his part, made their blinis for us a few days ago. And oh my they were yummy as well! The recipes aren’t the only reason I like the app – the layout is also super fresh. In addition, you are able to search recipes in different categories – for example you can choose to see only vegetarian and gluten free recipes.

Yummly

On Yummly, you can search by not only categories, but also allergies, preferences, tastes and more. It’s more of a platform that collects millions of recipes together, and makes searching for them easier. Just like on Kitchen Stories, on Yummly people can rate the recipes so you get to know which ones are good for real. My boyfriend introduced me to the app, and we normally use it to find recipes and ideas for everyday (vegetarian) food. I have so many yumm’d recipes I’m super eager to try.

Pinterest

I know you all are already familiar with Pinterest. Maybe you usually use it for fashion or interior inspiration, but did you know it’s awesome with food inspiration as well? I have saved so many new vegan and vegetarian recipes I want to try. For example a few days ago I made vegan chickpea meatballs. Even though they could have turned out a bit more spicy, there was definitely potential in them. The best part was them being crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Yesterday I made falafel burgers based on a falafel recipe I found on Pinterest. The patties turned out absolutely delicious, and even my meat-eater parents loved them. We also made vegan mini cheesecakes with my sister couple weeks ago. And they too were super nice!

Yes, you read it right, I just made the best green smoothie ever! Lots of my friends never want to taste the green smoothies I make because the color make the smoothies look too healthy (=not delicious, more like gross). However, they can be super delicious and something you can’t get enough of. The best part is that they are healthy as well. This one, which I now call the Best Green Smoothie Ever, is also anti-inflammatory and can have a healing effect. In addition, it gives a nice boost to your immune system as well as to your metabolism. What’s there not to love?

Blend all the ingredients together. Remember that you can easily variate this smoothie too. If you don’t like ginger, leave it out, and for example, if you prefer mango instead of pear then use it. Also, be careful with the turmeric since its color stains everything (sorry for your kitchen towel, mum).

But seriously, this one was so good that you really need to try it! I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow morning and make this again. 😀

I could never find words to describe my love for breakfast. There’s just something about starting each day with a delicious, creative, special and nutritious meal. My little sister is also a big breakfast person and she happens to be spending a few weeks in Salzburg now as well. On the last couple mornings we have prepared smoothies, overnight oats and matcha pancakes.

Overnight oats are a very easy, quick and healthy breakfast choice. Preparing them on the previous night gives you an opportunity to have a little bit slower morning yet still eat a nutritious breakfast. My favorite part about these is that they can be varied in so many different ways.

This time our overnight oats turned out to be a bit sweet and spicy with cinnamon, vanilla and honey in them. I also love to add some chia seeds in the bowls since they create a nice texture and help you stay full longer. Here is a recipe that we used (makes one):

I got an idea for a post about budget food shopping from one of my favorite food blogs. Because groceries are something we all need to spend money on, I decided to gather all my best tips on this post. Staying on a budget with food shopping is good for not only you but it can also help to reduce food waste.

1. Defining a budget

You really can’t stick to a budget if you don’t have one. To define one, you should first find out how much you spend on food shopping approximately on weekly and monthly basis. Try to figure out how often you eat out or get takeaway or pre-made dinners from a supermarket. And then figure out how much money you spend on everyday food shopping. This figure is most likely going to be higher if you buy a little bit of something everyday.

I usually transfer some money on a separate debit card that I use only for food shopping. That way it’s easier for me to track my budget and stay on it. For example last fall I tried to stay on a 150 euro monthly budget (plus I transferred 60 euros every moth on my student card which I paid my UniCafe lunches with).

2. Plan your meals and write a shopping list

I hate having to do multiple food shops every week so I much rather do just one big shop weekly. But it, of course, requires lots more planning. Before going to the shops I will have planned all my meals and know what I’m going to cook during the following days. And I will always have a shopping list with me since otherwise I’d always forget something. I know that if I forget something I have to go back to the shops and I’d probably end up buying lots of unnecessary and expensive stuff and some too many treats.

When you have planned your meals, you always know what you are going to cook and the likelihood of getting takeaway or eating out will be lower.

3. Meal prepping

Along with having to do multiple food shops every week, I hate having to cook everyday for myself. What works for me, is cooking lots of food at once, and as boring as it is, eating the same dish on multiple days. My favorite everyday dishes are nourishing, healthy and filling salads. I always have cooked quinoa and beans, feta cheese (or for example fried eggplant) as well as roasted veggies in my fridge. Those ingredients make a very yummy salad together with lettuce or kale and some tomatoes. Just toss some olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper on the top and you’re ready to go!

And how does meal prepping help you save money? Because when you have food ready to eat in your fridge, you’re less likely to spend money on expensive takeaways or premiered meals.

4. Go vegetarian

Or at least partly/mostly vegetarian. The most expensive part of an average person’s grocery shop bill is meat/fish so cutting down meat consumption will help you to reduce food expenses (and save the planet). Being a vegetarian does absolutely not mean replacing your meat with canned beans, in my opinion they are disgusting. Today we have so many vegetarian options in supermarkets and most of them are super yummy yet not too processed. However, the newest inventions can be quite expensive.

The best way to save money, and to make vegetarian food more delicious, is buying raw beans/chick peas/lentils. The only thing you have to do, is soaking them in water (not the lentils, though) for 8 hours and cook them for 10-60 minutes. My favorites are chick peas, mungbeans and red lentils but they definitely need to be cooked with a vegetable stock cube. You can add the cooked beans in salads, sauces and pasta or use them to make veggie steaks.

I could probably never be a vegan. I think eating wouldn’t be fun anymore since I can’t eat gluten either. But one thing I’m staying away as much as possible is dairy because too many research results show how it just isn’t good for humans.

5. Buy seasonal veggies

Especially in Finland and other countries where lots of vegetables are imported it’s important to favor the ones in season. During the fall months you can find so many locally produced vegetables very cheap. For example parsnips, beetroots and carrots are super yummy when they’re in season in Finland. However, a mistake that lot’s of people make, is always favoring locally produced vegetables. Now in the winter for example tomato and cucumber are super expensive but lots of people still buy them because they believe they are better than the imported ones. The problem is, that growing vegetables like these in freezing Finland requires so much electricity and natural resources, that it probably would be better for the environment to import them from warmer climates.

6. Treat yourself

Always have very small amounts of treats at home to stay sane. If you’re eating too restrictively, it will backfire. Be kind to yourself and let yourself enjoy life. Go eat out every once in a while or cook something a bit more special once a week. I couldn’t live without always having some dark chocolate in my drawer. Some other things I try to go for are avocado toasts, port wine and some super foods (for example chia seeds and green powders) that will last long.